MassConcerts PresentsBruce Hornsby

Sunday / September 27, 2009 / 7:30 p.m.

Berklee Performance Center

136 Massachusetts Avenue

Boston

MA

United States

02115

Bruce Hornsby

Since the release of his first album in April 1986, Bruce Hornsby has created a musical life that has expanded far and wide to include a broad stylistic range. Hornsby is a 13-time Grammy nominee and winner of three Grammy awards, including Best New Artist, Best Pop Instrumental Performance, and Best Bluegrass Recording.

Hornsby's albums have sold over 11 million copies worldwide. The title cut from The Way It Is was the most played song on American radio in 1987, winning the ASCAP Song of the Year award. In 1989, he cowrote the classic The End of the Innocence with Don Henley, a Top 10 record for him. Harbor Lights was the 1994 winner of the Down Beat Reader's Poll Beyond Album of the Year (meaning all music other than jazz and blues). In 1999 Tupac Shakur "cowrote" a new song over "The Way It Is" music with Bruce, using new words, called "Changes." It was a major worldwide hit, selling 14 million copies.

Known around the music industry as a collaborator, Hornsby has been sought after by a veritable "who's who" in the music business. He has played on over 100 records over the years, including albums by Bob Dylan; Don Henley; the Grateful Dead; Bob Seger; Crosby, Stills & Nash; Stevie Nicks; Cowboy Junkies; Squeeze; Liquid Jesus; Bonnie Raitt (piano on the classic "I Can't Make You Love Me"); Shawn Colvin; Bela Fleck; Clint Black; Ricky Skaggs; Randy Scruggs; and Willie Nelson, as well as end-title songs for two Spike Lee movies, Clockers(with Chaka Khan) and Bamboozled.

In addition, Hornsby was a part-time member of the Grateful Dead from September 1990 to March 1992, performing over 100 concerts in America and Europe. He appears on four Dead album releases.

Through the years Hornsby has participated in several memorable events: the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame opening concert in September 1995 (featured on the Sony 2-CD set), Farm Aid IV and VI, the Telluride Bluegrass Festival, Newport Jazz Festival, New Orleans Heritage and Jazz Festival, Woodstock II (1994), and Woodstock III (1999) (featured on the Epic 2-CD set).

An avid sports fan, Hornsby—solo and with Branford Marsalis—has performed the national anthem for many major events, including the NBA All-Star game, four NBA finals, the 1997 World Series Game 5 (the night Cal Ripken broke Lou Gehrig's all-time consecutive game streak), and the Ken Burns Baseball soundtrack.

In August 2006, Columbia/Legacy released a box set, Bruce Hornsby - Intersections 1985-2005, four CDs and a DVD chronicling his first twenty years as a major label recording artist. In 2007, he released two new albums, a bluegrass record, Ricky Skaggs & Bruce Hornsby, and a jazz trio record, Camp Meeting, with Jack DeJohnette and Christian McBride.